Avid Readers, Occasional Bloggers

My favorite Civil War author, Eric J. Wittenberg, has recently written a book on the Union mounted force’s delaying action on September 18, 1863 at Chickamauga in Holding the Line on the River of Death. Wittenberg is my favorite author because he details the actions of individual units, but also gives a great overview of… Continue reading →

Unlike many books on explaining the exploits of fighting men, Lengel goes beyond the battlefield when looking at the men. He passionately describes the struggles and trials of the men as they deal with the horrors they experienced in war.

Trump’s inability to hold onto cabinet secretaries of quality; his determination to shrink his political coalition; his refusal to do the minimum due diligence to understand and thereby explain his policy preferences; his incapacity to let insults, real or perceived, go unanswered; his relentless prevarication and insurmountable narcissism; his insistence on denigrating allies; his penchant for conspiracy theories and his unwavering pettiness: All of these things are reflections of his character, too. And they will have consequences for Trump, the GOP, the conservative movement, and the country.

Hardy shines a much-needed light on the deeds of the Branch-Lane Brigade. The officers and men made their mistakes during the war, but in a number of battles their actions saved the Confederates from a crushing defeat.

But we have customs that train us in how to behave, curbing our emotions and memories. Every conservative writes about them: Don’t tear down the great English oak unless you know why it was built, etc. etc.

Sometimes the customs go wrong, sometimes very wrong. Then people stir, wise men think, demagogues shout “Drain the swamp!” But often customs help us do and think the right thing.

So the 95 year old man was hoisted out of his wheelchair, flicked away the hand supporting his usable left arm, and raised its fingers in a salute to the casket of the 94 year old man.

?Conservatism is being wracked by the collision of different tectonic plates. The need to celebrate the leader of the tribe is smashing into the need to defend not just ideological mitments but traditional notions of leadership and decency. The desire to push back on the left is crashing into the need to remain intellectually consistent. The subsequent earthquakes aren’t just on display on screens but in our own heads. And sitting motionless in the hope that will all be over soon, like Mike Pence in the Oval Office, won’t get anyone through. The process is just going to have to play itself out. My only hope is that we’ll have more than rubble to build on when it’s all over.